The Ramsey Show - App - How to Apply Sunk Cost Analysis (Hour 1)
Episode Date: March 26, 2019The show about you...
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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios,
it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king,
and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.
I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. We're glad you're here.
Open phones at 888-825-5225.
That's 888-825-5225.
Mike starts off this hour in Nashville.
Hey, Mike, how are you?
Hey, Dave, I'm fantastic.
Thank you for taking my call today.
Sure, what's up?
Well, I'm seeking some advice from you in a situation that my wife and I are going to be in come closer to the end of the year.
We currently live in a home with the only debt that we have is our home, and it's probably around $245,000 that we have left on the mortgage.
It's a 30-year fixed rate.
Our interest rate is about 4.375%.
And towards the end of the year, we're going to be getting a home that's completely paid off.
It was left for me when my mom passed away.
My stepdad is going to be signing it over to us.
So there's no debt of any kind on this home.
So my question is, should I keep the home as rental property
and then use the income from that to help pay down the mortgage on my current home,
or should I sell it outright and then take all of that money
and apply it to the mortgage?
That home is probably worth around
$175,000, $180,000 before you take the realtor's fees out and everything.
So you can just about pay off your house?
Just about pay it off.
I'd probably have maybe $75,000 to $100,000 left on the house.
And your household income is what?
Last year I brought home a little over $100,000.
So you'll knock it out pretty quick if you did that.
Like two or three years you'll be done.
And so here's the way I look at that,
and I learned this from the Harvard Investment Newsletter probably 20 years ago.
There's a thing in investing called sunk cost analysis
that teaches you to undo what you're talking about
and ask yourself the question,
would you do it again?
And the way we do that in your situation is if you had $150,000 of cash piled in the middle
of the table, would you buy a rental house with it, pay cash for a rental house, no debt,
or would you apply it to your mortgage?
I would probably apply it to my mortgage.
My goal is to be completely 100% debt-free.
I have two goals, actually.
One is to have my home mortgage paid off,
but the other down the road is to also own rental properties.
So they both kind of fall in the same category.
But the way I would do it and the way I did it personally was I would pay off my house,
and then I would build up cash and buy rental property okay and that's what i was kind of
leaning towards so i would sell it say again so i would sell it that's that's what i was leaning
toward my next question will be then do i just take the let's say i make 150k off of it cash
do i then take that and apply it to my current 30-year mortgage and knock it down that way,
or do I refinance for a lesser year term?
It won't matter.
You're going to have lesser years automatically.
Okay.
You don't have to refinance to get lesser years.
The only reason you refinance is if you could get a lower interest rate, and you can't.
Your rate right now is about market rate.
Okay. Yeah, and the only reason it's rate right now is about market rate. Okay.
Yeah, and the only reason it's that high even is because I had them carry the mortgage insurance
because I didn't put the full 20% down.
So rather than me having to pay the mortgage.
Well, you may be able to get the PMI dropped.
Okay.
You talk to your mortgage company about the fact that we're doing a heavy principal reduction here,
and can we reappraise it and get the PMI dropped?
It would be silly to be paying PMI on this.
Is it an FHA or a Fannie Mae?
You know, that's a good question.
I think it might be an FHA.
It's been a couple years since I've even...
It's probably not going to be worth the money to refinance it
because you're going to pay it off so fast
that it's not going to be worth it to refinance it to get rid of it.
If it's a Fannie Mae, a conventional loan, you probably could talk them into with an appraisal
from an appraiser they approve of on their approved list to dropping the PMI with as heavy a principal reduction.
So you usually can.
It's a standard procedure.
On FHA, you can't.
It's just you're stuck with it until you pay the stupid thing off or refi it,
and you're not going to.
I wouldn't fool with it here.
Now, you know, I wouldn't fool with it.
You're going to pay it off in two years, three years anyway.
You're going to be done.
Let me ask you this.
You said your stepfather is signing it over to you.
It's not in your name?
No.
Well, see, it was a property that my mom and stepfather had together, and then she passed
away.
Yeah.
So that was kind of willed to us.
Kind of?
How's something kind of willed to you?
Well, it wasn't necessarily like written down in actual will.
It was just a verbal thing.
But he actually just told me today that he was going to be doing this in October.
And basically, he's not selling it to us or anything.
He's just going to let us have it because he's very well off.
He's retired from the Marines for two decades.
It's very kind of him.
You need to be very careful how you're doing this.
That's why I asked.
If someone gives another person any assets worth over $14,000, it gets subject to gift tax at 55%.
Okay.
So do not be hit when.
Yeah, he gets hit with 55% of 200 grand here if he doesn't do this right.
Okay.
You can't just start writing stuff around and just signing stuff over.
You're going to get yourself nailed, or he's going to get nailed.
So he needs to go get some tax advice, some estate planning advice.
And if you can remember this phrase, here's how he can do it and not have any taxes.
But you've got to do the paperwork, okay?
And it's called a unified estate tax credit.
And what he's doing is he's using up some
of his five and a half million dollars of federal estate tax exemption when you die you can have
five hundred five million five hundred thousand dollars and some change worth of assets without
having any taxes you use up some of that by using this method i'm talking about early. So he's going to reduce his
federal exemption by $200,000 when he
does this by giving you this
and not paying taxes on it.
Which is the way to do it, okay?
But if he just signs his freaking house over to you,
he's going to get hammered if he gets
audited.
Okay, yeah, because that was going to be my next question.
Because all he was planning on doing is going to
an attorney's office and just getting the paperwork drawn up.
He can do a quick claim deed and just give it to you.
That's fine.
It won't cost you anything, but he's going to get hammered with gift tax if he doesn't do this.
Unified estate tax credit.
Have him see his tax person or his estate planner.
And it's not a hard bunch of work to do, but, man man it'll be a mess if you don't do it so uh you know
you can't just street law like this will that didn't happen here and so he's following through
on your mom's wishes but they weren't ever written down so for god's sakes everybody get a will
write it all down and because if he had willed this to you if she had willed this to you on her
death and given him a life estate,
and he wanted to just sign over the life estate, there'd be no issue at all here.
Because you would already be the owner.
But he's just giving you $200,000.
Which is real nice.
I mean, it's really nice of him to follow through on your mom's wishes and all.
But make sure he does it right.
Unified estate tax credit.
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761 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. jenny is in waco texas welcome to the dave ramsey show jenny
thank you for taking my call sure not going to help. I am, we're on baby steps too. We've been on a program a month.
We have a third car because my husband just started a new job at the beginning of the year that he got a company car for.
And that car that he used to drive is upside down, extremely bad.
It is our largest debt at $34,000. We have an opportunity over the next three months to be
able to pay $7,000 on it, and my in-laws have offered to pay $10,000 so that we could trade
or turn that car into CarMax. And I just didn't know if that's the best opportunity to get that
large debt off, or do I stick with the snowball so the ten thousand dollars is coming from your
in-laws as a gift no as a loan not a chance we do not borrow money from relatives okay no
absolutely not so you're seventeen thousand dollars upside down in a $34,000 car?
$18,000 upside down.
So the car has $34,000 owed?
Yes.
How in the world did you get that far upside down?
You must have rolled negative from the other one into it.
It was, yeah.
It was at a stake on a car purchase, but we were not told that it was a salvaged car,
and so we had to get rid of it, and it just snowballed from there.
It was a bad mistake.
So you took a bad mistake and made it worse?
Yep.
Okay.
All right.
Wow.
What's your household income? My monthly income is $73,025.
Okay.
So it's $100,000 a year income, roughly.
Or $120,000 a year income, roughly.
Yes, sir.
Hmm.
It would take a $650 payment off plus probably half of our insurance,
and that we could be able to start rolling really into our debt.
Is your credit back?
We've owed our in-laws before, and we've just paid them off again.
I don't care.
There's no way I'm ever going to tell you to borrow from in-laws, ever.
Okay.
The borrower is slave to the lender, and you just run all.
There is no upside to that, only downside. Okay. The borrower is slave to the lender, and you just run all. There is no upside to that, only downside.
Okay.
They can be the nicest people in the world.
A Thanksgiving dinner doesn't taste the same when you eat with your master.
Yeah.
So how much other debt have you guys got?
We've got about $105 total, including that car.
Including $34.
And what's the rest of it?
It's our largest.
It's bad decisions.
We were living too high for our...
So what's the rest of it owed on?
One more car.
It's not an expensive car.
We just owe on it.
How much? we bought it.
How much?
And then, um, I would say just not credit cards, but loan debt.
So you just have $60,000 and $50,000 in personal loans?
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
Okay. So the other car is like 10 grand or something um the other car is at sorry um 14 okay you have the ability to get a personal loan for the uh hole that you're in
no we tried because yeah we tried who is the loan with on the car?
On that car, it is, you know, I don't know that one because my husband pays that bill.
I don't know who it's with.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
All right.
Yeah, you need to combine your finances from this point forward going on, too,
so that you both know what's going on with all that.
I just don't know who he pays, that's all.
I know what it is, I just don't know what he pays.
He does the paying part and I do the budget part.
So we both have a hint.
Is it a bank or do you not have any idea?
It is a bank.
Okay.
It is a bank.
Is it a local bank that they would work with you on the deficit?
No. Unless you sign with you on the deficit? No.
Unless you sign a note for the difference?
We have tried.
I've tried.
With your existing lender?
Yes.
We've tried everything.
This was our only option was to get the $10,000 from his parents.
Well, it's not the only option.
They just won't give us the full amount because they don't think
we should sell it for that cheap they think we should try and sell it for what other people
could sell it for i agree i agree with that i agree with that there's no panic here there's
just a lot of disgust every time you look at it sitting in the driveway you feel stupid
um so but that's not that's not a panic there's nothing nothing that, I mean, so I agree that you should sell the car for more,
and I do not agree you would ever have you borrow from them.
So what would I do?
Where was the $7,000 coming from?
That's our income.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
I thought you said there was $17,000 and they were going to loan you $10,000,
and where was the other $7,000 coming from?
Oh, we have, well, I get an extra paycheck this month,
so between this month and the next two months we can pay that towards it. Oh, I see.
To get it to where we could just clean it up.
Yeah.
You know, CarMax would pay the 18 for it.
Do not sell it for CarMax.
Let's sell it for 22 instead of for 18 or 24 instead of for 18.
Slow sale.
But don't do that until you've got the money lined up.
And it sounds like that the money is going to come from you saving up the money to do this.
And if you want to do that before you start really attacking the debt snowball, you can.
But, you know, it's not the end of the world either way, but
I, you know, I don't think I've talked you out of it, but there's not a chance I'm borrowing the
money from the, uh, you've got to quit borrowing your way out of these things. And you know,
your, your in-laws at your age, loaning you money. Oh my gosh, you got to stop this.
It's just a bad practice. And you're going to, it's going to bite you one of these days.
There's so, there's so many control things and so many things that happen with that kind of stuff it's just a bad idea
so yeah if you want to stop your debt snowball and just say we're gonna get rid of this car
and cover the difference in the next few months and then start officially start the debt snowball
you could do that if i were in your shoes would i that? I might because you've got insurance issues
and you've got a $600 a month payment that's clearing up.
It might be worth it to get that out of the way.
And there's such a level of disgust around this particular purchase
that was a bad purchase rolled into a bad purchase rolled into a bad purchase.
But don't give the car away for wholesale.
Don't panic.
I mean, you know, $5,000 is a lot of money in your world right now.
And $5,000 more getting for the market for that car rather than selling it to CarMax is helpful for the situation.
And it lowers the amount that you need to do this.
So, yeah, that's how I would look at it.
Thanks for joining us.
Mike is in Houston, Texas.
Hey, Mike, how are you?
Hey, Dave.
Howdy from Houston.
How can I help?
Quick question for you.
Maybe not quick.
We'll see how it goes.
So I've got a son that's going to be turning 16 at the end of the year.
And this got me thinking about buying a car, a third car for the family.
And in the process of this, I came across a side business idea,
and that's joining the peer-to-peer car rental business.
You know, buy a car, put it out there for rent,
and I've already considered all of the liability issues with that.
But here's the thing.
I've got three options for this, and we're doing the debt snowball right now. So let me throw these three options out there and get your opinion on them.
So number one, I can just abandon this idea altogether and continue paying down the debt snowball.
Check.
Okay, number two and number three
you don't even need to hear them you know what they are yeah i'm not doing peer-to-peer yeah
i'm not putting a car out there someone else driving a car that is in my name this is this
there's so many downsides to this that don't offset the little bit of money that you get coming in
i mean peer number two that rents the car gets drunk and hits somebody head-on in a car you own.
You've got a mess on your hands, dude.
I don't care how much liability insurance you've got.
You're not Hertz.
And I think this is a really, really dangerous practice.
The chances of me doing that are zero.
So, hey, thanks for the call.
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Yvonne is on the line in Walla Walla, Washington.
I've always wanted to say that.
Hey, Yvonne, how are you?
I'm doing great.
I'm doing amazing.
How are you?
Better than I deserve.
I see on my screen you're debt-free.
Congrats.
I am.
I'm calling to do my debt-free screen.
Super excited.
Love it.
How much have you paid off?
I've paid off over $44,000.
Good for you.
And how long did this take?
It took me about 27 months. Good for you. And how long did this take? It took me about 27 months.
Good for you.
And your range of income during that time?
It was a little bit of a roller coaster, so as high as 42, but I'm averaging right now about $36,000.
What do you do?
Right now, I'm currently a bilingual secretary at a public school.
Good for you.
Cool.
All right.
And what kind of debt was the $44,000?
Dave, it was everything I'm talking about.
I had a Toyota pickup.
I had medical bills from when my son was born.
I mean, when he was born, and he's six already.
I had credit cards.
I had everything.
Wow.
And so you're a single mom?
Single mom, yes.
Okay. And so you were a single mom? Single mom, yes. Okay.
And so you were kind of just living life normal.
Kind of, yeah.
Which pretty much sucks.
Yeah.
Yeah, right?
I know.
What happened 27 months ago?
So we can a little backtrack a little bit.
So about five years ago, I was a little bit blindsided by a divorce. So I made a decision
to move back to my hometown of Walla Walla with my 18 month old son. And as I was getting my life
together, you know, I accumulated debt. I had debt from my marriage. It was just everything.
And not to mention, I also started raising my niece. Oh my my goodness. So, yes, I have my teenage niece.
And then, Dave, I started listening to your podcast.
I purchased the Total Money Makeover book, and I just started going balls to the wall.
I was just crazy about it.
And then I also started doing the EveryDollar app. So I just started cutting things.
And then 27 months ago, I decided to sell my truck.
Yeah, I know, right? So I sold my truck. That just knocked off $11,000. And that's really where it
kind of started. I started just budgeting and I started taking Dave jobs. I'm talking about I was doing child care.
I was teaching workout classes before work, after work.
I was doing anything.
I was saying yes to everything and selling anything I could.
Wow.
You're a dead gum warrior, kiddo.
Well done.
Well done.
What are you driving now?
Right now I'm driving a 2000 Subaru Legacy with over 160,000 miles, but I own it.
It is mine.
That's definitely a legacy car.
Yeah, right?
No pun intended.
Yeah, I love it.
Way to go.
Way to go, man.
Yes, I know.
You broke free of all this stuff from the past, including, you know, just trying to get settled in and restarting your life.
And that all ran up bills.
There were bills coming from every segment of your history.
And all that history is gone now, all the negative parts of it.
Yes, it's completely gone.
I don't have to worry about it.
And, I mean, just thinking about about like, you know, I'm setting
up my son, my niece, she's 17 years old. She's doing the Running Start program. She's getting
her college credits. She's, you know, she's going to go to school. She's going to go to college
debt-free. And all of this wouldn't have happened had we not just got on a plan, got on a budget.
How did you end up finding our podcast?
So I started, okay, so basically, long story short, I was just overwhelmed. I was getting calls nonstop, and I was getting just letters,
and I was just trying to figure out what can I do to, you know, get my life together.
And so I started researching online, and Dave, of course, comes on here.
And I read just, it's just so simple, so straightforward. There's just steps. You
just follow them. And there wasn't anything like transfer all of your stuff to one loan or,
you know, you were just scared enough to try something new. Yes, and so just that simple thing of just putting it all down on paper.
And once you put it down on paper, you realize how much money you're spending on just things that are so ridiculous that you don't even need at all.
Wow.
How old are you?
I am 28.
Wow, look at you, on fire. I. Look at you. Yes. On fire.
I'm proud of you.
Well done.
Did you have people cheering you on or people saying you were crazy?
At the beginning of it, people thought I was crazy.
They thought I was super cheap, always saying no.
But at the end, you know, I had my sister.
I would call her.
I'm like, hey, I just paid off this or I just paid off this.
And they just started listening to me.
And it's funny because now I feel like I have more cheerleaders.
People will text me.
The other day, I literally got a text the same day that I knew I was going to be on the Dave Ramsey show.
And my friend's like, hey, do you still have that book, The Total Money Makeover?
And I do.
But you have to wait because I let someone else borrow it.
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
When teams start winning, everybody jumps on the bandwagon, don't they?
Yes.
Yeah.
When you're winning, you're popular.
I know, right?
Well done.
Yeah, so those pictures up there, those are pictures of, you know,
of when I taught my fitness classes.
And, I mean, I feel like once you're, that vibe that you give off is just, you know, people just surround yourself with those people.
And it just, it gives off this amazing feeling.
And, you know, people want to be around that.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, it's because you, you know, you have a destiny and you're going after it.
I'm proud of you.
Very, very well done.
Thank you.
Good job.
Good job.
You're winning.
Thanks.
And this is just the beginning.
The next chapter in your story is for you to become a millionaire and be outrageously generous along the way. Because you may run into, I mean, when you're a millionaire, you might run into a single mom that needs a car.
Yes.
You might know somebody like that, huh?
I know.
And it's just one of those things where you just pay it forward.
I mean, I feel like I should just go buy as many Total Money Makeover books,
and any time someone mentions, you know, I'm having trouble paying this or I want to do this,
I just want to give them that book.
That way they can realize, you know, it's just so easy, so simple, and anyone can do it.
Wow. I'm going to send you 10 to give away, okay? Of course. realize, you know, it's just so easy, so simple, and anyone can do it.
Wow.
I'm going to send you 10 to give away, okay?
Of course.
I already have 10 people I can give it to.
Good, good.
Well, you're the kind of person we like helping.
You're incredible.
Thank you. Very proud of you.
Very, very well done.
You're why I come down here every day.
So good job.
Good job.
All right.
We also got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired, signed by him.
That is the next chapter for you to be a millionaire and outrageously generous.
And we'll get you started here with 10 total money makeover books to give to your friends and relatives.
So now that you're the walking, freaking example of it can be done.
Hello.
Well done.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
All right.
Well, let's have you count down.
$44,000 paid off in 27 months, making $42,000 to $36,000 a year.
It's Yvonne in Walla Walla, Washington.
Count it down.
Let's hear a debt-free scream.
All right, and I have my niece and my son both here with me.
So, three, two, one.
We're debt-free!
There we go, baby.
There we go.
You know, I get, man, I get on Twitter and I get so aggravated.
Dave Ramsey's stuff's for rich people.
Dave Ramsey's stuff's not for rich people.
It's for Yvonne.
The stuff we teach is the cookies are on a shelf where everybody can reach it.
She's a single mom raising her niece and her son making $36,000 a year.
Now, if you want to call that rich people, I'll call you stupid.
That's not rich people.
And she did it and there you are whining in your 88 000 income driving your
tahoe you can't afford i can't get out of that damn stuff doesn't work for regular people no
you're just a freaking whiner that's your problem and yvonne just showed you up man she just dusted
you off yeah she just exposed how dumb some of you are. You listen to this show
but you don't hear it. You don't go home and do it.
Well, that lady just changed her whole dadgum family tree.
She just changed her life. I didn't do it.
I just showed her how to do it. She's a hero, man.
You don't think she's not a hero, that little boy. You don't think she's not a hero, that little boy?
You don't think she's not a hero, that niece she's raising?
She's a hero, man.
I don't want to hear you whine.
Not after that call.
Don't be whining on Twitter.
I will thump you in front of 800,000 people.
I'll give you a little Twitter thump right there, baby.
This is the Dave Ramsey Show.
Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways.
Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids.
Each has debt and has struggled to make ends meet. But they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money.
They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life insurance,
and the other doesn't.
Big difference.
If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed.
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let alone saving for education or retirement.
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Just go to ZanderInsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is.
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Heidi's in Idaho.
My husband doesn't think we need a $1,000 emergency fund.
He thinks that money should go towards paying down our debt. And we have an emergency fund then we can put it on the credit
card he ultimately thinks it's the same thing therefore he is indifferent yet we've had this
conversation multiple times i desperately want to be on the same page otherwise i know we will
never be debt free how can i get through to him, I'm not sure you can because he's stupid.
I mean, really, you're sitting there broke and telling me what your financial plan is
and arguing with mine.
I mean, that's dumb.
That's like a 500-pound man arguing with a personal trainer about diet i don't like your
plan well i don't give a crap that's just dumb seriously i mean i've done this kind of dumb
stuff i've argued with people when i didn't know what i was talking about because arguing is like a sport in our family but but that's just dumb and i you know
honestly i would go you know it's kind of a dr phil moment you gotta look at this old boy and go
hey your plan genius got us here so i don't think we're going to use your plan
how's that working for you that's your dr ph. Well, it's not working. You don't even have $1,000, and you're arguing about how to handle money.
So, listen, there's no shame in being broke.
I've been there.
But being prideful and acting like you're a dead-gum money expert when you're broke is kind of ridiculous.
So, how do you get through to him?
I'm not sure.
A board?
I don't know.
But, I mean, I've lost my patience with some of this stuff.
Seriously.
So I don't know how you get through to him, honey.
I think you just need to tell him, look, we've been trying your way for years.
We've been trying my way for years.
None of it worked.
Let's try something else.
I mean, here's the thing.
Let's do it for 90 days let's do exactly what the total money makeover book says don't argue with
it don't try to have a freaking theory of your own submit yourself to a plan try something for 90
days if you get out of debt and you have a thousand dollars in the bank and you don't like it you can spend the thousand and get right back in debt i could be wrong right you could go right
back in it is that simple you guys if i hire a personal trainer and i won't do what he says i'm
stupid you know i mean why am i gonna pay this guy to sit here and tell me what my nutrition needs are
he's in better shape than i'm in what my exercise regime should be and then argue with him like my
theory is better well you sure that applies to me you sure i can't maybe i can take in more
calories than i burn i'm sure I'll lose weight that way.
You sure I'm not the one exception to freaking physics on the planet?
I mean, really?
Why do we as humans do this? I do it too, but I mean, it's just dumb.
When I do it, it's just dumb.
When you do it, it's just stupid and dumb.
I mean, really, it's just dumb.
You hire a coach to teach you how to play a
certain sport and say you know your swing is off change this your your step is off change this you
you know you're stutter stepping in the pocket take three solid steps land flat on your feet
cock your arm and throw i mean you know do what the coach says there's a reason you brought him in
submit yourself to the plan I mean, you know, do what the coach says. There's a reason you brought him in.
Submit yourself to the plan.
You know, you see these basketball coaches.
I don't know anything about basketball.
I was listening to a guy talking this morning about it, how he had a coach in college that completely changed the mechanics of his shot,
his basketball shot.
And when he changed the mechanics, his accuracy went way up his release was quicker
he was releasing at the top rather than the bottom of the arc everything about his shot
was different and it changed though it changed it made him a pro versus a college player
because he submitted himself to someone who knew something more than he knew
and that's it this stuff is that simple, you guys.
It really is.
So I don't know how you get through to him.
I don't know.
But, you know, maybe you just, how's it working for you?
Your plan, you know, genius.
You've been doing it this way for 10 years.
Look at where you are.
We are broken in credit card debt using your best plan.
So maybe your best thinking isn't going to get us there.
Maybe we need some new thinking.
Maybe we need to borrow
someone else's brain for a while.
That's what happens
when you bring in a coach
in anything in your life,
whether it's a personal trainer,
an athletic endeavor.
You know, I learned
to barefoot water ski
when I was 16 years old.
Stepping off a ski
back in the day.
That's the way we used to learn to ski, learn to barefoot and get up on a slalom and step off from 16 to 48 i barefoot skied exactly
the same way i never changed a thing i never got any better i actually got worse because i got older and more out of
shape right wasn't 16 anymore you know when we hired a guy we had hired a guy to come to our
lake house for the summer and train us the number one barefoot water skiing guy in the world at that
time keith saint orange and keith spent a week with my son-in-law, me, a buddy of mine, another guy,
and basically beat the snot out of us for a week.
And every time we would do one little tiny thing wrong, he would make sure we fell so we remembered the lesson.
And he was not brutal.
He was very kind.
He was an excellent teacher.
But, you know, now, you know, we people in our family, one foot backward.
I'm a backward barefooter.
I get up, you know, I don't get up on a ski anymore.
I get up the proper ways.
You know, I mean, in one week, I changed a lifetime of that sport.
Why?
Because I submitted myself to somebody who knew something i didn't know and i didn't go you know i don't know if i agree with your particular theory on this he's the best
in the world he won he left my house that year went to taiwan and won the world games okay he's
the best in the world i'm not gonna argue with this guy about how to barefoot water ski i mean
that would have been just stupid now i felt like arguing with him a time or two because i mean we ate tylenol sandwich for lunch
every day we were getting the crap beat out of us it hurt but we were learning my learning curve
during that one week went through the roof and consequently i'll probably be able to barefoot well up into my 70s or 80s because of the technique, because I learned how to properly do certain things, position, body, muscle memory, the process you use in a physical activity.
And it's not any different when you're dealing with something, a mental activity like handling money or nutrition or your marriage.
It's a habit is formed.
But I mean, if you've been married three times, don't tell me you don't need pre-marriage counseling because you got this figured out.
You ain't got it figured out.
You have not got it figured out.
You know that you need to meet with a pro.
You need a counselor, a coach in your area. So you need different muscle memory, a different process that you need to meet meet with a pro you need a counselor a coach in your area
so you need different muscle memory a different process that you plug into
that simple stuff it's that easy you guys it is so i mean this idea that where you're going to
argue with a proven plan is not a reflection on the plan it's a reflection on the plan. It's a reflection on you. You're the problem.
Submit yourself to a plan.
Try something
new for 90 days.
See what it does.
Get your credit cards out right now.
Every one of them. Even that one you
hide in the back. Get them all
out. Right now.
Cut them
all up. Close all your credit card accounts pay them all off get a debit
card you can do all of that in the next hour do something radical and different so that you get
something that's radical and different you're not going to get anything radical and different
doing the same old crap over and over and discussing theory.
Submit yourself to a plan.
Try something new.
Something radically new.
You'll get radically different results.
This is not rocket science, people.
But it is about pride.
The negative kind of pride.
It's in your way.
It's in my way.
This is The Dave Ramsey Show.
This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show.
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